The Confluence
Penguins Roundtable Part I: The Defense
by Tony on 08/25/10 at 08:53 PM ET
Comments (4)
Time for our yearly Penguins roundtable, K-mart shoppers. I’ve modified the format this time around. Instead of one post with several questions and several participants answer those, it tends to be a very long read. This year I’ll have one question per post each week, with a total of four questions leading up to training camp. Part I discusses the changes in the Penguins’ defense:
The participants:
Rick Moldovanyi (RM) - The Pensblog
Jesse Marshall (JM) - Faceoff Factor
Brian Metzer (BM) - From The Point
Mike Colligan (MC) - The Hockey Writers
Sean Leahy (SL) - Yahoo! Puck Daddy
Jimmy Rixner (JR) - SB Nation Pittsburgh
Tony Ferrante (TF) - The Confluence at Kukla’s Korner
Q. The Penguins only retained three defensemen from last season’s roster in Alex Goligoski, Kris Letang and Brooks Orpik. As a result, the Penguins shored up some defensive shortcomings in signing Zbynek Michalek and Paul Martin, but must now also replace the offensive prowess of Sergei Gonchar.
Do you think the Penguins will regret allowing Gonchar to sign with Ottawa, especially on the powerplay? Also, with Michalek and Martin now onboard, what is your overall opinion of the Penguins defense as a whole?
(RM) Personally, I don’t think Ray Shero has regrets. Ever. He doesn’t make moves on a whim and he doesn’t attach emotion to anything he does. The emotional response would be to keep Gonchar with the team. The emotional response would also be to overpay Ryan Malone & Rob Scuderi to keep them in black and gold. Shero didn’t bite.
Letting Gonchar walk was the best move for the team. If that doesn’t look apparent right now, it will in two years when the Senators are paying over $5 million a season for a 38 year-old defenseman with bad knees.
The Penguins powerplay didn’t exactly set the world on fire last year, even when Gonchar was in the line-up. The Penguins will definitely miss his blasts from the point, but that’s why Shero has Kris Letang. It’s Letang’s role now, whether he’s ready or not. He needs that sort of pressure to force him to grow into the role. It’s time. A bigger problem on the Pens powerplay is finding spots for Malkin & Crosby that work, but that’s a whole other discussion.
The Pens defense is better than it was last year. A concern could be lack of experience, especially with Goligoski and whoever ends up on the third pairing (Lovejoy, Engelland, etc.) Orpik/Letang and Michalek/Martin are solid pairings. Shero put big money in defense this year and it should pay off.
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(JM) The Penguins defense is ultimately responsible for their demise last season. Shero was wise to full address that this July when he brought aboard two of the best players available on the backline and locked them up long term. In the scope of the Atlantic division, and even as far as the Eastern conference overall, the Penguins now have 5 talented, top flight defenseman all under the age of 30. That’s something to be reckoned with when you also have two of the biggest offensive guns in the NHL at your disposal up front.
I don’t think the Penguins will miss Sergei Gonchar too much. While his howitzer from the point is unmatched, they have a few guys that have shown an offensive flair at some point in their career. It’s especially key to focus on Paul Martin here, he’s a guy that’s largely touted as a defenseman with some untapped offensive potential. Kristopher Letang also powered the Penguins offensively this post-season and I’m hoping that’s a preview of things to come. Another aspect to consider is that Mike Yeo is gone, this is now Bylsma’s power-play, I’m expecting improvements from a tactical standpoint. In addition to that, the Penguins have all of camp to prepare and re-tool sans Gonchar. It’s a different mentality when you can start from scratch on day one.
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(BM) First of all, there is no way to replace Sergei Gonchar, he is a one of a kind offensive talent, especially on the power play and he will be missed. However, when you combine his age with the fact that he has shown himself to be a bit injury prone over the past couple of seasons, you can see why Shero was comfortable letting him walk away. Though his offense will not be fully replaced, the Penguins’ GM did as nice a job as he possibly could have in plugging the holes on his blue line. Paul Martin has offensive upside, some of which went untapped in New Jersey and he will get the first crack at quarterbacking the power play. Add in the fact that Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski are a year older and more seasoned and you have three defensemen who are capable of logging effective power play minutes.
In Zbynek Michalek, Shero brought in a player who will fill the void left by Rob Scuderi last season; however he has more skill than Scuderi did. Michalek can carry the puck, is more mobile, and to hear some of the analysts from Phoenix tell it, he has some offense that could blossom while playing with the Penguins talented centers—not to mention the fact that he is a shot blocking machine.
Adding Martin and he to the mix that the Penguins already had makes them better than they were on June 30. Sure it is tough to lose the offense that Gonchar provided, but the group as a whole is much better than it had been and that is exactly what Shero was trying to accomplish.
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(MC) With the man advantage, Gonchar is hands-down the best in the business and came a long way in his five seasons in a Pittsburgh uniform. Coming out of the lockout, I can still remember his huge windup and slapshots off the glass that make Kris Letang look like a sharpshooter. Gonchar learned that his role was to distribute the puck and just make sure his shots found their way through traffic. The Penguins can’t replace that, but I’m not sure they have to.
The downside to Gonchar’s efficiency is the powerplay became the most predictable unit in the league. Night in and night out teams knew exactly where the puck was going and how it was going to get there. With Gonchar gone and Paul Martin probably assuming his spot, I’m calling for a change in setup. Instead of the normal look with Malkin along the boards and Crosby below the goal-line, shift Crosby behind the net to form a diamond. This relieves the pressure on Martin to manage and instead allows Crosby to utilize his playmaking skills and knack for scoring around the crease. Predictability would be thrown out the window as every player on the ice would now have three and four options to choose from.
As far as the defense as a whole, I think this year’s group is better than the Stanley Cup winners from two seasons ago. That year we learned Gill and Scuderi were capable of shutting down opponent’s top lines; Martin and Michalek have already shown they’re up to the task. On top of that, while Gill and Scuderi were worshiped for their shutdown abilities, few remember how painful their breakouts were that season. Martin and Michalek bring mobility to the team that has become a must-have for all players in the Bylsma up-tempo system.
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(SL) Anytime you make the decision not to bring back a guy like Gonchar, you’re going to regret it, but Shero was put in a tough spot on the term he wanted and that’s just the business side of things. Gonchar’s veteran presence and booming slap shot from the point will be missed, but now the onus is on guys like Letang and Goligoski to step up and try to fill the the skates of Gonchar’s.
The Penguins were sixth overall last season in shots allowed per/game, but 20th in goals allowed per/game. The defense wasn’t as good as it was in 2008-09, so Shero focused in on that weakness and by bringing in Michalek and Martin, addressed that need. Overall, I believe it’s better and think they’ll work as a corp much better than they did last season.
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(JR) Over the past two seasons the Pens power play was running a respectable 19.4% with Sergei Gonchar and a downright pathetic 8.9% without him. Obviously they will miss Gonchar’s abilities as Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski continue to learn how to properly run the points, and as Sidney Crosby takes on more authority within that unit. Growing pains are inevitable in Gonchar’s absence and without a doubt there will be times he’s really missed.
However the Penguins aren’t going to regret it in two or three seasons when Gonchar will be right on the verge of 40 and eating up $5.5 million dollars of the Ottawa Senators’ salary cap. He’s dealt with too many injuries lately and will only be slowing down in the years to come. To let Gonchar go and bring in a guy in his prime in Paul Martin for the same $5 million salary will ultimately prove to be the only decision the Penguins could have made.
Zbynek Michalek is considered by many smart hockey people, including my buddy Jeff Marek up in Canada, to be one of the league’s most under-rated players in the NHL today. He’s drawn a lot of Rob Scuderi comparisons, but from what admittedly little I’ve seen of Michalek he’s not Scuderi - I think the Czech has a better all around skill-set and can be a more capable skater and has better puck skills than Scuds. Michalek’s also bigger and a right-handed shot, two more valuable attributes for an NHL defenseman.
The Pens defense, on paper in August, is as talented and deep as it has been in recent memory. They have no standouts or Norris contenders, but it seems to be just the type of core that the team needs to get back into the deep rounds of the playoffs.
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(TF) Well, they’ve certainly revamped their defense, there’s absolutely no doubt about that. While D-men like Jordan Leopold, Mark Eaton and Jay McKee did what most would call a decent job defensively, it became apparent late in the year and especially during the playoffs that they needed top-notch defensive defensemen in the offseason. I feel they’ve definitely accomplished that with the signings of Martin and Michalek, and including Orpik, creates a nice balance of offensive and defensive defensemen on the roster.
The loss of Gonchar shouldn’t be felt too much defensively, especially considering his poor play in the playoffs last season, but it will be interesting how Dan Bylsma replaces Gonchar on the powerplay. While it will be very tough to replace his shot from the point, his “quarterbacking” of the powerplay became not too much more than a passing contest between he and Evgeni Malkin along the right half-wall, where eventually one of those two would take a one-timer. With Mike Yeo out of the picture and Bylsma running the power play, we could see a completely different system, not only without Gonchar but the entire powerplay units.
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Comments
while I am sad to see Gonchar go, I agree with many of the panelists that it was done for all of the right reasons. He will be over 40 when the contract expires so its a guaranteed contract, it counts against the cap whether he plays or not, and the Pens need all of the cap room they can keep. It is time for Letang and Goligoski to step up their game. Let them gain the confidence they need to lead the powerplay and the team into the playoffs.
As for defensively, they are definately a better team than last year. I think they will be better than they were is 2009 as well. The will be much more mobile which helps with the centers they have.
My only question mark is who will be the 6th defenseman? I am much more worried about who is going to be the wingers on the top 2 lines than I am on defense and seeing which Fleury shows up?
Posted by defense03 on 08/26/10 at 08:56 AM ET
The downside to Gonchar’s efficiency is the powerplay became the most predictable unit in the league
Agreed, hopefully this will change.
Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 08/26/10 at 10:15 AM ET
Good Job all you guys I think the M & M boys will be real good for the Pens, Letang & Gogo Have to step up on the PP
Posted by Evilpens on 08/26/10 at 10:27 AM ET
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Good read Tony. Lots of good points. The D on paper should be better. Now it’s just a matter of whether or not they gel together this year. I worry about the potential 3rd pairing of Lovejoy and Gogo heading into the playoffs, but I’m open to giving them time in the regular season to be sure they can handle things. Shero will have more cap space then at the deadline if things aren’t working out.
Posted by pens fan in baltimore on 08/26/10 at 08:53 AM ET